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Ok, first off, and NOT to take away anything from the abilities of both NJ and Boston, I honestly felt the Lightning SHOULD have won those two series.

Second, even though I know Washington has had their problems advancing in series in recent years, they DID eliminate the Stanley Cup Champion Penguins (and one of their great playoff nemesis) to get to the East Finals...…. and I am worried about the Bolts being able to beat the Caps.

I shouldn't be.

I mean, the Lightning dealt with NJ's speed, young up n comers, and pretty much contained Taylor Hall.

They also did away with a Boston team that some felt could have just as easily defeated them to get to the East Finals.

Yet somehow, the Caps remain a potential pitfall for the Lightning.

I know I said I didn't care whether it was Pittsburgh or Washington in this round, but now that I think about it, I almost wish it were the Pens now.

Caps seem re-focused, and like I said, Ovechkin and his boys got a major monkey...no, an APE....off their backs, and are finally so close to a Stanley Cup, they can taste it!

The combination of speed, power and goaltending (hmmm...sounds a LOT like Winnipeg, huh?) could give the Bolts fits and even though Tampa Bay has home ice, for as good as any of the Final Four are, I don't think home ice is any sort of huge advantage as one would think. Any of the Final Four seem just as comfortable on the road too.

Ok, ok...now that I got the potential 'disasters' out of the way for Tampa Bay and praised up the Caps a bit, time for my homer self to kick in a bit (and with good reason, because frankly, the Lightning are very good team themselves who won two series in 5 games DESPITE not all their players playing their 'A' game), and time to point out what the Bolts DO have in their favor, and why I think they will win this series.

The Tampa Bay Lightning roll four legit, capable lines out there.

With that, it will hard for Washington, or any team, to play the match up game.

So far, the 2nd line of Braydon Point, Ondrej Palat (sometimes Gourde in his spot), Tyler Johnson has been the driving force.

But the 3rd line, usually consisting of Anthony Cirelli at center, flanked by either Gourde or Palat on one side, and Alex Killorn on the other, has been pretty effective as well, as has the 4th line of Cedric Paquette, Chris Kunitz, and Ryan Callahan.

That leaves Stamkos' line with Kucherov and Miller as the LEAST effective line (that being relative of course), as they have been somewhat sleepy on the production department for the first two series.

I believe, that unless Barry Trotz is going to dedicate a line or two to completely shut down Stamkos and his boys on the 1st line, or Point and his boys on the 2nd, that the Bolts' top line will finally have themselves a series where people can say say, "Oh hey, THERE are the big star forwards of the Lightning doing their thing now!"

Stamkos and his linemates are just too good to be shut down (again, relative here) for a third straight series.

Add to that, that I think Andrei Vasilevskiy should be able to play well enough to match Brayden Holtby, and the TB defense may be a bit better overall both in offense and defense (yes, I still believe the Bolts' D is a bit underrated by many), and I give Tampa Bay the edge, despite any fears I have that the Capitals may be "destined" to win this year.

Tampa Bay in 6, and really, for a Lightning fan like me, despite any other evidence to the contrary that I had not considered, there is just no other choice at this juncture.

Call it homerism if you like, but it's the Lightning's turn to disappoint Alex Ovechkin and the Caps fans this year!

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I know this was just Game 1, and the Bolts did sorta the same in the Boston series, but MAN, they gotta get off to better starts and not look so....ordinary out there!!

Tampa Bay, perhaps played the first few minutes like they meant it, then fizzled out, and then it was all Caps till the very end when the Lightning put on a bit of comeback....too little, too late of course.

Still like the Bolts to win this, but one can see why I was a bit worried about playing the Caps......Washington this year means business.

I expect nothing less from the team that eliminated the two years running now former Stanley Cup champions.

I am sure the coaching staff expects more of the Bolts players too as are the players themselves.

Lightning DEFINITELY need to come out with more fire next game.

The ol "too much rest" excuse is old now....get with it boys! Ya want the Cup or not!??

Check out this quote from Coach Jon Cooper (got it from the Lightning's facebook page) after the game....he was pretty much spot on.

Urgency boys...URGENCY!

"They were playing the Eastern Conference Final, and we were playing Game 38. That's basically what it was."

They'll win one, but even with the addition of Girardi on their blue line, they are very sloppy and weak (turnover prone) at times defensively. Washington, on the other hand, looks like they are capable of locking a team down when need be.The Caps look like the clear favorites at this point to win the Cup.

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While I would much rather see the Bolts move on to the Final, @FD19372 said it:

9 hours ago, FD19372 said:

They'll win one, but even with the addition of Girardi on their blue line, they are very sloppy and weak (turnover prone) at times defensively. Washington, on the other hand, looks like they are capable of locking a team down when need be.The Caps look like the clear favorites at this point to win the Cup.

I expected more from the Lightning. They have the speed and goalscoring ability to win a cup. Plus they bounced both NJ and BOS in 5 games a piece (very different teams from WSH of course). On the other hand, this is probably the best Capitals team I've ever actually watched, and now that they've overcome seasonal Pittsburgh anxiety, I'm not really sure there's any stopping Ovechkin and Co. The Caps netted 10 goals in Amalie Arena in the first two games of the series while the home team scored a measly 4 - one of which because of a wildly confusing penalty call.

It goes without saying that Capital One Arena is going to be rockin' in Games 3 and 4, and after the past two games, the Bolts have left me questioning their ability to handle pressure. Holtby is too strong in net and the Caps offense is too powerful for the Bolts to be playing as lazy as they have been.

I guess I'm okay with Ovi playing for the Cup, and maybe winning it. But as I said, I'd like Yzerman's team to win it all.

Before the series, I said Lightning in 7. Now it appears it'll be Caps in 6... or maybe even 5.

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Down 0-2, this is definitely a litmus test for this iteration of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

If they are real contenders, they will not only come out in Game 3 fired up, but they will pull out the win.

I know they aren't eliminated if they don't win, but down 0-3 to this very confident Capitals team is NOT where they want to be.

They'd be done at that point.

NJ, Bos...if either of them had the Bolts down 2-0, I wouldn't have worried.

But this Washington team won their division, have looked absolutely brilliant many times during the season and these playoffs....and they beat the &^%$ing 2x Stanley Cup champions to get to this point.

Bolts ain't takin 4 straight from this group.

They need to put on their big boy pants, Steven Stamkos needs to take the steering wheel here, and they need to come up with a win.

And if they play a full 60 minutes like they did last game, I like their chances.

Caps were a worrisome match up for me entering this series, but as Tampa Bay proved...the Caps CAN be beat...IF you can take advantage of the opportunities they give you.

As for the Anton Stralman hit.....look, yea, the hit was terrible.

The type of hit that it was and the timing of it were just horrible. Not gonna deny that...and if the DPS deems it fit to suspend Stralman for the boarding incident, I can't say I would be surprised.

Tom Wilson is a jerk on the ice himself. Not gonna say ANY human being deserves to be plastered face first into the boards like that, but if I WERE that type of person, then he'd be a great candidate for that type of treatment...… we all know how "clean" he plays the game.

But it is hard to defend Stralman on this...even though I think Anton is a terrific underrated defender.

This type of play really isn't Stralman's thing either. He DOES play hard, has been known to really put it to another player, but it usually has been with no ill will.

I don't know what got into him when the above play was made, but it was poor judgement on his part.

Certainly, I do NOT want Stralman to take the edge off his game during a time when his team needs every advantage they can get....but her certainly shouldn't be given a pass on something like this.

There are theories out there as to why he did what he did......and they may be right...or maybe he just messed up, got a bit too wired, and went overboard.

Either way, as a Lightning fan, I won't defend the play...though I stand by Anton Stralman the PLAYER, because I know that he really isn't that type of dirty NHL'er.

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Caps look lethargic. 3-0 Bolts in the second. First 2 goals Holtby did not get above crease to challenge shooter. He continues to struggle and without saying when your goalie is struggling the result is almost always an L

Late on this one.
While I would much rather see the Bolts move on to the Final, @FD19372 said it:
I expected more from the Lightning. They have the speed and goalscoring ability to win a cup. Plus they bounced both NJ and BOS in 5 games a piece (very different teams from WSH of course). On the other hand, this is probably the best Capitals team I've ever actually watched, and now that they've overcome seasonal Pittsburgh anxiety, I'm not really sure there's any stopping Ovechkin and Co. The Caps netted 10 goals in Amalie Arena in the first two games of the series while the home team scored a measly 4 - one of which because of a wildly confusing penalty call.
It goes without saying that Capital One Arena is going to be rockin' in Games 3 and 4, and after the past two games, the Bolts have left me questioning their ability to handle pressure. Holtby is too strong in net and the Caps offense is too powerful for the Bolts to be playing as lazy as they have been.
I guess I'm okay with Ovi playing for the Cup, and maybe winning it. But as I said, I'd like Yzerman's team to win it all.
Before the series, I said Lightning in 7. Now it appears it'll be Caps in 6... or maybe even 5.

As bizarre as that sounds, I think you might be right. Talk about the ultimate Cinderella story. We are witnessing something that may NEVER be repeated ....... of course Seattle is just salivating at their glands now ......

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